The Forth Bridge is still in use by trains
today. The bridge is owned by Railtrack.
ScotRail and other
Intercity services use the bridge. The Forth Bridge Railway was joint-owned
by a number of railway companies and ran from Inverkeithing station to
Dalmeny station. The bridge is also known as "The Forth Rail Bridge"
by some to distinguish it from the 1960s "Forth Road Bridge".

This bridge crosses the Firth of the River
Forth at Queensferry. At the North end of the bridge is North Queensferry with
the nearby Rosyth Dockyard and to the South end is South Queensferry. There
is car-parking on both sides of the bridge where one can stop and admire the
bridge. At night the bridge is lit.

Building the bridge was such a major undertaking
that it was not built until its construction and use were long overwaited. Before
it was built a number of train ferries operated over the Queensferry route from
South Queensferry
to North
Queensferry, both railway terminii. (For the new bridge new approach lines
were built from the north and south and the existing lines became humble backwater
routes).

The capital for the bridge was raised by four
railway companies as shown in this clickable pie chart;

The line and bridge were jointly maintained
by these companies until the 1923 grouping. The line was operated by the North
British Railway.

This is to the South of the bridge and Dalmeny
station. To the South of this point are the Forth
Bridge Connecting Lines built by the North
British Railway to link to the Forth Bridge Railway. The original line in
this district is the South
Queensferry Branch which ran from Ratho to South Queensferry
via Kirkliston. This line is now closed save for a short section of track which
was common with the Forth Bridge lines at Dalmeny Junction. To the north runs
the main line onto the bridge, and the closed line to South Queensferry. To
the south are the lines to Winchburgh, Saughton and the closed line to Ratho.

This station is located at the north end of
the bridge. The station retains its original buildings. The section of track
between the north end of the bridge and Inverkeithing station was very expensive
to built - it runs at high level along embankments and through tunnels to reach
Inverkeithing, including a large viaduct which spans a road and the line to
Rosyth Dockyard.

Immediately to the north of the Ferry Hills
the line crosses the large Jamestown Viaduct, which also crosses over the line
to Rosyth.
By this viaduct is the large Park and Ride system from which buses run over
the Forth Road Bridge to Edinburgh.

This junction is immediately to the South of
Inverkeithing station and may be viewed from it. The north end of the Forth
Bridge Railway terminates here. The line joined the older Dunfermline
and Queensferry Railway, approaching from the South,
passing over the line to Rosyth and joining the line from the west at a junction
facing north.